


In Flames

by skylarstories



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Magic, Closer to Avatar but still different, F/F, No island, Not Harry Potter like, Slow Burn, This is shoni endgame, like really slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:08:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29275947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylarstories/pseuds/skylarstories
Summary: When Toni entered the photography club she didn't expect to make friends but that's exactly what she did. They weren't very close but they helped each other out when there were serious problems and one of those serious problems is what leads to her finding out about a completely different world where people use magic. She also didn't expect to fall for a certain person and has decided that life is way too unpredictable to expect normal things. So she goes along with it.
Relationships: Dot Campbell/Fatin Jadmani, Fatin Jadmani/Leah Rilke, Martha Blackburn & Shelby Goodkind, Martha Blackburn & Toni Shalifoe, Rachel Reid/Leah Rilke, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love The Wilds and shoni so I wanted to make a fic in honor of them but I can't promise it's good so read at your own risk.

Never in his life has Dean Young imagined that he would be in this position. He worked really hard to study to be a professor but in the end, he’s just in charge of the photography club. Not that he’s complaining, he’s grown attached to all the students that have passed through him and has enjoyed teaching them. Right now those students are eight girls: Fatin Jadmani, Leah Rilke, Rachel Reid, Dot Campbell, Martha Blackburn, Toni Shalifoe, Shelby Goodkind and Nora Reid. 

They’re an odd group, he’ll admit that, but some of the girls just clicked like they were supposed to be friends all along. However, some of them were the opposite like Toni and Shelby, or Leah and Fatin. The eight girls may sometimes hang all together but people will never see those pairs speaking together unless they’re fighting.

Right now, in the middle of the class, there were seven girls listening to what he was saying. Nobody is surprised when Toni knocks on the door moments later.  
“Hi professor Young” Toni says sheepishly. “Sorry I’m late.” She goes to sit down next to Martha.

He looks up from the book. “Again you mean?” All the girls chuckle. Toni nods. He continues. “Just ask Martha to feel you in on what you missed and prepare your excuse for this time.” He smiles at her and goes back to speaking about the topic they were discussing.

Toni turns to Martha “So what did I miss? Do we have any assignments yet?” She wouldn’t be surprised if there was. It could have been the first day of school and professor Young would have given an assignment anyway. Thankfully Toni actually enjoys this class so she doesn’t mind.

“Yup it’s a cool one though. We have to do it as a group. We’re supposed to photograph something important to us and then make a mural out of it and put it in this room” Martha says excitedly. “And right now he’s just talking about how we need to work as a team and make the mural look organised and all over the place.”

Toni rolls her eyes and looks questioningly at Martha. “How are we supposed to do that? It’s either organised or all over the place.” Toni glances at Fatin and sees she’s nodding to what she said.  
“Oh come on, a person can be organised and all over the place at the same time. She could be organised in one thing but all over the place in the other” Leah says, joining the conversation.

“Of course you would say that but let me remind you that those two words mean the opposite of each other. How are we supposed to put that into the project?” Fatin retorts while also glaring at Leah. Leah rolls her eyes and returns the glare.

Shelby turns to the girls “I agree with Leah, I’m sure we can do this if we try hard enough.” Leah hums in agreement. Dot turns to the girls but doesn’t comment.

“Oh yeah and how do you suggest we do that, princess?” Toni asks. Shelby rolls her eyes at the nickname but answers anyway. “I think we should first see what our photos will be and see if they’re related to each other.”

“And what if they’re different? Cause I can assure you that mine and Nora’s photos are gonna be completely different.” Rachel asks while Nora turns to the conversation.

“I guess we’ll figure it out when we see them.” Shelby says uncertainly. No one seems convinced but since they don’t know what to do either, they let it go.

While that discussion was happening, professor Young was watching their interactions and analysing them. He came to the conclusion that since they were all interested in the assignment, he should let them speak between each other so he goes to get a cup of coffee.

“I think we should start thinking about what we’re going to photograph and share our ideas with the others so we have some kind of idea.” Nora says. All the girls seem to agree with that so they start thinking.

After a while Fatin whispers to Toni “I wonder if it can be a vibrator.” Toni chuckles and says “Yeah, I don’t think they’ll accept a vibrator for a school project, Fatin.” Fatin laughs and nods.

So that’s how they spent the rest of the class and their afternoon: looking for something to take pictures of and making the mural seem organised and all over the place. Just as they were giving the final touches, Shelby’s phone rings. “Sorry ya’ll.” She looks at the caller id and goes to answer.

“So are we done here? I have practice in 30 minutes.” Toni says. Some of the girls nod and the others shrug.

Martha turns to Toni with her brow furrowed. “No you don’t, that was yesterday.” Everyone but Shelby, who’s talking with a hushed tone on the phone, looks at Toni. She sighs and says “Fine. I want to practice basketball in 30 minutes. Happy?” Everyone shrugs. Toni sighs again “Whatever, see ya.” Everyone says goodbye and she leaves.

“Hey ya’ll I have to leave too, a problem has come up and I have to go meet my parents before I get into more trouble.” Shelby sighs rubbing her face with her hand.

Martha looks at her concerned. “Yeah, of course, we’ve finished anyway. Is everything okay?” Shelby smiles weakly at her and answers “Yeah I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m just worried because I might not arrive on time to speak to my parents”

“I mean I don’t really care but don’t you live like five minutes from here?” Rachel asks. Shelby looks kinda panicked and says “Well yeah but they’re not at home, they’re in another place and it’s far to get there” Everyone except Martha and Rachel widened their eyes when they realised it had something to do with the other world.

“Oh yeah then you should go since it’s getting late and all” Dot says and Shelby looks thankfully at her and leaves.

When she arrives at her house she goes directly to the basement and puts in a code in the closet. It opens with a brightening light and pulls Shelby through its portal.

She emerges in the other world. The Wildzard. Weird name but I didn’t come up with it she thinks. It’s very similar to the world people normally know. It only has a few changes like the fact that people use magic here. But not Harry Potter magic. More like Avatar’s magic but still different. They use elements there too and even though some of them are the same, there are some other elements to add.

She goes to her house there where she knows her parents are waiting. When she arrives the air is tense. Dave looks up when he sees his daughter entering. “Took you long enough” he says. Shelby looks down and answers “Sorry daddy.”

“Well now that you’re here, Shelby, we need to talk about something important, something you did.” The director of the school she’s in, where she learns how to use her magic like every other kid with it does, says. She looks up confused. He continues “The bad thing you did. We already know what happened so why don’t you tell us your version?” He asks.

Shelby looks around, confusion written in her features. “Uh, I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Dave looks mad. “You can stop lying now Shelby. I expected more from you” he yells. Shelby flinches but doesn’t answer, she just keeps looking puzzled.

The director sighs. “We’re talking about the fact that you killed Thom, the secretary of one of the most powerful people in this world.”

Shelby widens her eyes completely surprised. “What?” She asks.

Her family and the director just look at her in disappointment.

“I-I didn’t do that. I would never do that! I never even met him! Why would I kill him?” She asks completely confused and scared, looking at them with desperation in her eyes. All of the adults sigh.

“That’s what we wanted to know, Shelby. I really want to believe in you since you’ve never caused any problems but if you didn’t do this then who did?” The director asks and looks at Shelby helplessly.

“I don’t know who did it but I absolutely didn’t. Why would you even think it was me?” Shelby starts tearing up especially when her parents don’t seem to believe her at all.

The director looked at her for a moment. “We found magical evidence and normal evidence that pointed to you, Shelby. We can’t ignore that. If it wasn’t you, then what do you suggest we do?” Shelby thinks about it for a second and answers “Give me two weeks to find out who did this and if by the end I can’t then you can do as you please” She says defeated.

“One week and that’s already a stretch, I hope you find who did this before the end of it.” The director leaves, leaving Shelby alone with her parents.

“Daddy, you know I had nothing to do with this, right? I would never do anything like that. I didn’t even know the guy.” She pleads with him. He studies her for a moment then answers “I don’t know Shel, I don’t know who you are anymore.”

Meanwhile on the human world

Toni has just arrived at the basketball camp when she hears someone call her name. She looks behind and opens a smile when she sees it’s Martha. “Hey Marty, everything okay? Why did you leave already, I thought you were staying?”

Martha finally reaches her. “Yeah everything’s okay I think, I’m not sure if Shelby is okay though. She said that she had to hurry up because a problem had come up and she would be in bigger trouble if she didn’t hurry up.”

Toni looks at Martha then shrugs. “So?” She starts practising. Martha rolls her eyes. She knows Toni doesn’t really care about Shelby but even so she could actually think about it before shrugging it off. “Oh come on Toni you can’t honestly think it’s not serious. Shelby has never left out of nowhere without explanation. Why would she do that now?” Martha asks. 

Toni keeps practising while she answers. “Well maybe it was something she couldn’t talk about because her family is embarrassed or something, I don’t know.” 

“But Toni I’m really worried she seemed kind of panicked when asked about it and I think I saw a little fear in her eyes too. You have class with her first can’t you check on her?” Martha begs. Toni hesitates and looks at Martha for a while. Then she sighs and relents “Fine, I will but don’t expect it to go well.”

Martha hugs Toni. “Thank you, thank you, thank you” She keeps saying until she hears her phone ringing. “Hey mom…...yeah I think pizza’s fine” She looks at Toni. Toni nods. “Yeah okay, we’ll be there at 7. Bye mom, love you.” She smiles at Toni and they keep talking until 7 and go home.

Next day, Toni walks into class and spots Shelby at her usual spot. She sighs and then goes to sit next to her. Shelby startles and then looks questioningly at her. Toni looks at her for some time then asks. “Is everything okay?” Shelby looks surprised at the question then hesitates then nods.

“No, it’s not, you hesitated" Toni says. Shelby furrows her brows and sighs annoyed. “Why do you care? Just leave me alone, I have enough problems as it is” She crosses her arms and looks to the front where the teacher has just arrived.

“So there is a problem, right?” Toni asks anyway. Shelby rolls her but doesn’t answer. The teacher starts the class so Toni turns to the front. Not that she was listening but she had to pretend she was. She starts thinking about how Shelby was talking with hushed words the day before and how she seemed like she was actually worried about something. She made a promise to Martha and she was gonna keep it. She also started thinking about the possible reasons but she didn’t know Shelby enough to know what was wrong. Not that she cared, really, but because she was actually curious about what could bother Shelby so deeply.

Meanwhile, Rachel Reid had been doing some investigating of her own and when she found the answer she couldn’t believe it so she called Martha since the girl had a lot of faith.  
“Hey Martha, thanks for coming. I found something and I don't know what to think of it” Rachel greets Martha when she comes into view.

“Hi Rachel. Is everything okay? What did you find?” Martha asks curiously. Rachel seems to ponder on something and then shows a book to Martha. “My parents and Nora have been acting really weird for some time so I decided to follow them one day. I saw them going to a secret room and when I opened the door they were entering a closet that let out a brightening light. When they didn’t leave after a while, I opened the closet door but there was nothing there. So I decided to look into it and found this really old book from the town library.” Rachel explains. Martha seemed completely entranced in the explanation and confused. 

“So what did you find?” Martha asks. Rachel hesitates then says “The book says that there is a magical world hidden from us that only people with magic have access to and if they decide, they can live there since it’s very similar to our own.”

“Wow so there’s a hidden world and magic exists? That’s so cool” Martha exclaims. “So what does this mean?” She asks.

Rachel looks at her “I don’t know.”


	2. Chapter 2

It’s not that she’s freaking out. No, Fatin doesn’t freak out, ever. It’s like a rule for her. So when she hears Rachel and Martha talk about the Wildzard she does NOT freeze and does NOT start running like she’s in a marathon to find the other girls that know about the other world. Nah.

Fatin finds Leah in the middle of the school corridor reading that damn book again and she speeds walks towards her and snatches the book from her. Leah gasps. “Wha-Hey! Give that back Fatin. What’s wrong with you?” Then she has a good look at Fatin’s face and softens. “What happened?”

Fatin takes deep breaths. “rachelandmarthafoundoutabouttheotherworld” She says. Leah looks completely lost at her. Fatin rolls her eyes at her and repeats slower and lower. “Rachel and Martha found out about the other world.” Leah widens her eyes. “

Oh shit! How did they find out about it?!” Leah says. “We work really hard to be extra careful about it and they still found out?” She starts pacing. Fatin follows with her eyes and then stops her and turns Leah towards her with her hands on her shoulders.

“Calm the fuck down, you’re making a scene, Leah” Fatin whisper-yells. Leah looks around and sees a lot of people watching them. “Right, yeah, okay” She says to herself.

Fatin nods and when they both calm down, they realise how close to one another they are. Fatin’s eyes lower to Leah’s mouth but they snap back up at the same time Leah’s eyes snap up from Fatin’s mouth when they hear a loud noise. They blink and jump a foot back from each other. When they look to the side, they find Dot and Nora looking at them suspiciously. Dot studies then for a moment with her brows furrowed while Nora looks at them with a knowing smile on her lips.

Leah clears her throat. “We have a problem.” Dot and Nora look at her, waiting, while Fatin is looking off into the distance. “Nora, your sister and Martha found out about the secret world” Leah explains, worried. Dot and Nora widen their eyes and Dot almost yells ‘What?’ if Nora hadn’t stopped her.

“That’s not good, not good at all. How did they find out?” Nora asks. Leah looks to Fatin who shrugs. Dot sighs. “Okay we have to have a meeting with the others that know to make a decision on what to do.” She says. The others agree so they text the others that know so they could meet up.

_Meanwhile with Martha and Rachel_

“To me it appears that my whole family knows about it and kept it a secret from me.” Rachel says with a frown. Then she sighs. “We should probably find another books with information about this, borrow them and read them so we can understand what this is.” She says. Martha nods and they go look for other books about it.

After a while, Martha looks up. “Can I call Toni to fill her in? Three people is better than two.” She asks. Rachel reflects for a moment. “What if she knows too?” She asks Martha. Martha frowns and shakes her head. “No way, Toni couldn’t keep this secret from me. I know it.” She assures Rachel. Rachel nods and agrees to fill Toni in.

Toni gets a text from Martha in the middle of the class saying to go to the library ASAP. She frowns and sees Shelby looking at it from the corner of her eye but when she meets Toni’s eyes, hers snap to the professor. Toni answers she’ll be there in 5 minutes and asks the professor to go to the bathroom and gets up to go when he agrees.

When Toni arrives she sees Martha and Rachel looking through all the books in the library with tons of books out of place. “What the hell are you two doing?” She says while picking up a book that was in the middle of the path and putting it on the shelf.

Martha and Rachel look up at the same time when they hear Toni’s voice. Martha gives her big smile while Rachel gives her a small smile and a nod. Then she turns to Toni. “We have the library for ourselves for 3 hours” Rachel says.

Toni’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Okay….but why?” She leans against the table in the middle of the library. Martha turns to her with the biggest grin. Toni furrows her brows at her. “Guess what? No forget it, you won’t guess. Rachel found something really cool and now we’re looking for more information-” Martha starts talking realy fast and Toni only understands until ‘information’. She then turns to Rachel and raises her eyebrow.

Rachel sighs and starts explaining everything to Toni. In the end Toni was shaking her head while repeating ‘no way’ over and over. After a while, she finally accepted and started searching with them. After two and a half hours, they still hadn’t found anything. “This is bullshit!” Toni throws a book to the other side of the library. She sits down and crosses her arms.

Martha turns to her. “Oh come on Toni, we might still find something useful here we can’t give u-” Toni interrupts Martha before she finishes. “NO! I’m done with this. We’ve been here for ages, I’m not gonna waste my time here just looking for something that isn’t here!” She gets up to leave but trips on her book on her way out and reaches for something to steady herself. She ends up gripping a book on a shelf on the wall and they hear a mechanical noise come from it. She startles and looks on as the shelf opens to another secret part of the library. When she looks back to the others she sees them both looking at her with their arms crossed and smug grins. She sighs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever”. They all enter the new part of the library and the door clicks shut behind them. They startle and look at it. Rachel tries to open it but it doesn’t budge.

“You’re telling me we’re stuck here? Seriously? What have you dragged me into?” Toni laments as she goes to look through that part of the library. Rachel shrugs and goes to look too. Martha chooses to look to the painting hanging on the wall. The first book Toni picks up is about the magic. She guesses that whatever book Rachel found about it must have been from that room. She starts reading when she hears Martha gasp. Rachel and Toni look at her and see she’s staring at a painting on the wall.

“What’s wrong Marty?” Toni starts walking towards Martha. Martha looks at her. “Its eyes moved. They followed me.” Martha says and looks back at the painting. Then she moves to the side and the painting’s eyes follow her movements. Toni lifts her eyebrows. “Huh cool. So you good?” She looks to Martha to check on her. Martha looks at her and nods. Toni looks at her for a moment then goes back to going through the books.

After a while, the three of them hear a noise in the normal library. Then they heard noises. Toni went close to the wall that opened and leaned against it while reading another book to see if she could understand who it was. She starts hearing more voices and she knows that voice….it’s Shelby? Yeah, it’s definitely Shelby. She hears Fatin’s voice and Leah’s too.

She turns to the others. “It’s Shelby and the others” She whispers. Rachel and Marth look confused and get close to the door to hear it too. Toni was about to do the same when something caught her eye. It was a big, red and old book. She walks toward it and takes it out of the shelf. She glances towards the girls and sees she’s still listening to the others so she decides to take a look. She starts reading it and something in her tells her to not stop.

She then decides this is the book they were looking for. So she continues reading. Rachel goes to look for more books while Martha keeps listening to the others. As Toni continues reading the book she starts to understand a little better the supposed secret world (whose name she learned was Wildzard) and the magic itself.

She gets a paper from Martha’s bag and starts writing stuff down. _There are 8 elements of magic and one that isn’t used anymore since it was too dangerous. It’s used by healers though_ (which Toni guesses are people who heal other people).

_The elements are, from the strongest to the weakest: Fire, Water, Wood, Ice, Earth, Air, Metal and Stone. There are also elementals for each element which were people that literally owned that element’s magic_ (Toni figures that means that that element’s magic comes from its respective elemental). She stops writing as she gets confused over her own words. She shakes her head and continues.

_Some elementals are known but nobody knows who some elementals are. The known ones are Wood, Stone, Air, Metal and Ice._ When Toni sees who they are she freezes completely surprised. _The Wood elemental is Tim Campbell, Dot’s father. The Stone elemental_ (Toni rolls her eyes at this one) _is Andrew, Shelby’s boyfriend. The Air elemental is Nora, like literally Nora. The Metal elemental is Jeanette Dao_ (that one Toni doesn’t know). _The Ice elemental is Fatin herself._

Then Toni sees a note at the bottom of a page. _The water elemental isn’t exactly known but at the same it is. In the main city of Wildzard, there’s a group of people whose primary element is water and that are very powerful. One person in that group is the water elemental although only the people who are in the group really know who it is._ She continues writing even if she’s completely confused.

T _here are three healers: Dean Young_ (wait really, him too?), _Shelby Goodkind_ (of course she is) _and_ (oh my god, no way. No fucking way.) Toni blanches when she sees the name of the third healer. She glances at Martha and then writes the third name. _Bernice Blackburn, Marty’s mom. The rarest element to find is fire since it’s the hardest to control and the most powerful one._

Toni doesn’t get a chance to continue because she hears Martha call her and Rachel’s name to hear what the rest are saying. They realise they’re talking about Rachel and Martha and what they’re going to do about them knowing the secret.

_With the rest of the girls_

Shelby was going to the library as quick as she could since she only saw the message when her class ended. When she entered she saw the others there.

“Hey Shelby, come on, we need to sort this mess out before they find out more about the other world.” Dot said. Shelby speed-walked and sat on a chair in the table the girls were at.

She looks at them for a while. “What do they know?” She asks. The rest turn to Fatin. Fatin looks confused at them until she finally understood. “Oh ok. I was coming toward the library and heard Martha and Rachel’s voices. So I was going to say hi but then I heard Rachel talk about how Nora and her parents disappeared into the closet when she followed them and that she researched about it and found out about a hidden world with magic.” Fatin explains. They all sit in silence for a while.

Then Shelby takes a deep breath. “Okay then so they don’t know more than that, right? So unless they found the secret library with the books about the other world that we don’t even know where it is, then we’re kinda fine. Right?” The other girls nod, uncertain. Shelby sighs and buries her head in her hands. “At least they’re only two people.” She says and closes her eyes.

Dot frowns concerned for her friend. “Hey Shelby what’s wrong? You know we can trust them. They’re our friends.” Dot points out. Shelby nods. Dot continues. “Then what is it?” Shelby hesitates “Something bad happened and everyone thinks it was me. Like I would ever do that. They think I killed Thom!” All the girls except Shelby gasp. “ Like I would ever do that. I didn’t even know him. And now I have one week to prove it wasn’t me or else..” All the girls were scared. Everyone there knew what would happen and it wasn’t good, Shelby continues “I just wanted a break but then this comes up too and I don’t know if I can handle it.” All the girls look at each other then hug Shelby as she starts crying.

Leah looks around the girls. “I’ll help you.” Shelby looks up in surprise. “You don’t deserve to do it alone.” Leah says. “We all will because we’re your friends.” She continues. Shelby looks at the others and sees them all nodding. “Oh my God thank you so much everyone, this means so much.” They all nod.

_Meanwhile in the other room of the library_

The three girls were at a loss for words. Toni cleared her throat. “Okay well. You should probably let them know that you found the room but that you didn’t find anything special about the world.” Toni says as she hides the book with the information in her bag. Martha turns to her. “What about you?” She asks.

Toni points at a window. “I’ll go through there and you guys pretend I don’t know anything and was never here.” She says. Rachel turns to her. “Why? Don’t tell me you finally realised Shelby was a human being like us that has problems too and want to cut her some slack?”She asks.

Toni rolls her eyes. “Actually yes. I’m doing this because she’s on the verge of a breakdown and so stressed and I would only put more stress in her so yes Rach, I’m cutting her some slack.” Toni answers. Martha looks at Toni, smiles at her and nods. “I’m proud of you Toni” She says. Toni smiles at her. She then nods towards the window. I’m gonna go guys. Bye.” They wave at her and she slips through the window. She walks down the school and calls Martha’s mom.

"Ms. B? Hi. I found something and I want to show it to you and a full explanation about it.” Toni says

“Oh is it something bad?” Bernice asks, concerned.

“It depends on your perspective I think. Marty doesn’t know.” Toni answers.

“Okay I'll pick you up in 5 minutes.” Bernice says.

“Okay”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there's another chapter, sorry I haven't been updating, there's a lot going on.

Martha was trying to understand the paintings in the room while Rachel continued searching through the room. She had insisted that they should continue looking for some minutes because she doesn’t give up on anything. Fifteen minutes after, Martha starts complaining that they should leave so they start banging on the wall that is shared between the two rooms.

The five girls that were in the normal room of the library looked up at the sound confused. Then they started hearing Rachel and Martha’s voices saying that they found the room and if they could pull some books on the shelf to open the door so they could talk.

The girls looked at each other and then started pulling the books on the shelf. A few seconds later they hear the mechanical sound of the door opening and see the other two. They all look at each other and then Shelby sighs.

“I suppose we have a lot to talk about then.” She says. They all nod their agreement. She leads them to a table in the corner of the library. They all sit there looking at each other for a few minutes until Rachel breaks the silence. “So how about you all start explaining this?” She puts the book she found on the table. 

Leah looks at the book and examines it. She then sighs and starts explaining. “Well as you’ve figured there’s another world where people use magic and live with it normally. The people who are born from people who are magic or that show signs of magic are taken there to have a test and see if they’re magical. We all did that and we’re all magical hence why we know about it.” Rachel interrupts. “Wait so Nora’s magical but I’m not? How come?” Leah looks at Nora. “Well mom is magical but dad isn’t so it’s normal for one of us to not have magic although mom told me she’s not sure whether you have it or not. The council there though doesn’t think you do so you were never taken there.” Rachel accepts the explanation and looks at Leah for her to continue.

Leah continues. “So I’m not sure if you want to know how things work there or if you want to know how magic works?” Rachel and Martha look at each other and say “Both.” Leah nods like she already knew they were gonna answer that. “There’s only so much we can tell you so I’m only gonna tell you the basics.” She says.

With Toni and Bernice

Toni sees a car pulling up beside her and takes off her headphones. She opens the door of the car when she sees it’s Bernice. Bernice smiles at her and starts driving them home when Toni is seated. The car ride is silent besides the sound of the radio. Bernice looks worried while Toni looks out the window thoughtfully.

They arrive home and once they’re both settled on the couch, Bernice turns to her. “So what’s wrong honey?” She asks. Toni studies her for a moment and then says “The Wildzard.” Bernice’s whole face changes. She widens her eyes and looks completely surprised at what Toni said. “T-The what?” She stammers. Toni looks at her. “The Wildzard. The magical world where people live with magic normally and where you’re from and where five of the ‘photography squad’ is from. That world. I know about it and so does Rachel and Martha. Martha doesn’t know you’re from there though and neither does Rachel.” She says all while looking Bernice in the eye. Almost daring her to deny it. Bernice sighs. “Well, I suppose there’s no reason for me to deny it. What do you want to know about it? And are you gonna tell Martha or will you let me tell her?” She asks.

“I want to know everything you can tell me about it. And no, I won’t tell Marty as long as you don’t tell the others I know about this world and as long as you get me access to there.” Toni answers. Bernice looks at her suspiciously and then nods, accepting the terms. “Why do you want access there?” Bernice asks. Toni smiles at her. “Don’t worry Bernice, I’m not gonna do anything illegal there.” She says. Berniece nods and starts talking.

With the others after Leah’s explanation 

Rachel and Martha look at them in astonishment. Martha utters a “Woooooow”. The other five nod. “So that’s all I can tell you.” Leah says. They all sit there looking at each other and Shelby tentatively asks “Does Toni know? I saw she received a message from you during class.” Martha and Rachel shake their head. “No, she came here but she got a text from her coach that she wanted to talk to her so we didn’t have a chance to tell her.” Rachel answers. 

The other girls sigh in relief while Martha and Rachel look at each other. “Okay, that’s good. I feel like she would ask us to teach her magic or to show her magic. Or maybe say that we shouldn’t have kept the secret and that it’s not fair of us.” Fatin explains while rolling her eyes. Martha, Dot, Nora and Shelby furrow their brows while looking at her. “I don’t know dude, I think you see Toni in too much black and white. She could surprise us and be understanding with this. You never know.” Dot defends her. Fatin shrugs. “Doesn't really matter because she doesn’t know.” She says.

With Bernice and Toni

Toni was sipping her hot chocolate that Bernice had made while reading some notes Bernice gave her that talked about the world. Bernice looked at her while also sipping from a hot chocolate. “You know, of all the things I expected you to be calm about from one in your life, this wasn’t it. I imagined you would be asking for magic tricks or something or mad that I kept this secret from you.” Bernice says. Toni smiles gently at her. “Oh, I know. At first, I felt like doing that but the more I looked around the library I decided why would someone go to this much trouble to hide this information? So unless it was dangerous, I don’t see why. And also I can see this affects a lot of people not only one, so no I’m not mad about you not telling me. As for the magic tricks well I could still ask that.” She winks. “But only if you want to, because the more I read the story behind these, the more dangerous it seems.” Toni answers and goes back to reading the notes. 

Bernice nods but then narrows her eyes. “Is there a particular reason why you’re so worried about going to the Wildzard or to understand how it works? It can’t be just from curiosity. If it was you’d just ask random questions.” She says. Toni hesitates. “Um n-no. Why would there be?” She asks. Bernice looks at her and raises her eyebrows. Toni looks away from her. Bernice then studies her for a moment. “So it’s not because someone that goes there is in some kind of trouble? Or because you like that person to want to know about the world?” Bernice asks. Toni’s eyes widen and she blushes. She shakes her head. “Nope. No one at all.” Bernice narrows her eyes while Toni keeps looking away from her and smiles victoriously when she sees Toni is blushing.

“Why are you blushing then?” Toni just shakes her head without meeting Bernice’s eyes. “Who is it, Toni?” Bernie asks. Toni shakes her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She says. “Is it…..Dot?” Toni doesn’t move. “...Leah?” Still no moving. “Maybe Fatin?” Nothing. “Nora?” Nope. “Wait….is it Shelby?” Toni moves a bit. “It is! Oh my, I never thought you would have a crush on her.” Bernice says. Toni looks at her. “What? I don’t have a crush on her!” She says. Bernice crosses her arms. “Then why the whole research and them not knowing you know the secret? Why move when I said Shelby’s name?” Bernice asks. Toni hesitates then sighs. “Fine, I kinda care about her and about the whole situation with her but that doesn’t mean I like her!” She goes back to looking at the notes. Bernice shakes her head while going to the kitchen. “Oblivious.” She utters. “What was that?” Toni asks. “Nothing honey!” Bernice answers.

With Martha and Shelby after they left the library and are walking home

“So can I ask you something, Shelby?” Martha asks. Shelby smiles at her and nods. “The whole situation with Thom...how serious is it?” Martha asks. Shelby smile dies and she looks at the ground, worried. “Very serious, he’s very important in the other world and him dying created a lot of bad things. Worse now that people know he was murdered. I just can’t believe they thought I could ever do that. And now everyone hates me there and I feel like I’m being followed everywhere.” Shelby answers sadly. 

“I’m sorry you’re going through that. You don’t deserve it, I know you’re a good person.” Martha says and hugs her. Shelby smiles at her after the hug and thanks her. She then looks up and sees Toni at the entrance of Martha’s house. “Do you think I could speak to Toni?” Shelby asks. Martha looks at her then nods. She runs to Toni and they speak for a while. Toni then walks toward Shelby.

“Hey, I’m sorry for being rude to you in class when you asked if I was okay. I wasn’t, still not, but it’s nothing special. I know Martha probably asked you to do it but thanks for asking anyway.” Shelby says. Toni looks at her and then softens. “Look it’s cool, I’m rude to a lot of people every day including you and I don’t apologise. Nevertheless, I accept the apology. If you’re sure it’s nothing special then I won’t bother you. I’m not the easiest person to talk to but if you do need to talk, I suppose you can also come to me.” Toni answers and smiles at her. Shelby smiles and thanks her. They say their awkward goodbyes and go on their ways.

In an alley nearby, a person watched them speak to each other unhappily and then started following Shelby to her house.


End file.
